Vertical
Limit is one of those big action/adventure films that
play a lot like old Saturday afternoon matinee films. Everything is
taken to a cinematic extreme: the villains are absolutely wicked,
the heroes are nothing but virtuous and anything that can go wrong,
will go wrong. The setting for everything to go wrong is K2 in
Pakistan, one of the most dangerous peaks in the world. After losing
their father during a climbing accident a few years ago (there's
always a tragedy to start movies like this), Annie (Robin Tunney)
and Peter Garrett (Chris O'Donnell) have gone their separate ways.
As fate would have it, K2 reunites them. He is there as a
photographer for National Geographic,
and she is there as a world class, record-breaking climber. Along
for the hike up K2 is an obnoxious, enterprising billionaire, Vaughn
(Bill Paxton). As a publicity stunt, he's decided to hike up to the
mountain's peak in time to film a commercial while the inaugural
flight of his new airline soars above him (hasn't he heard of CGI
effects?).

When an unexpected snowstorm traps the climbers in a deep cavern,
their base camp enlists the help of Montgomery Wick (Scott Glenn) to
head the dangerous rescue mission up the mountain. He is a reclusive
nomad, who knows the mountain better than anyone else does (and has
his own personal reasons for wanting to return to the summit). Once
they're on the mountain, the "anything that can go wrong, will
go wrong" portion comes into play. The movie plays like a
primer course in mountaineering. The climbers are subjected to
extreme wind speeds, snowstorms, destructive avalanches, pulmonary
adema, frost bite and lots of explosive nitroglycerin to shake
things up even more. Now... you know going into this movie that it's
going to follow a definite formula and that the villain is going to
get his just dues at the film's conclusion. Does that take away from
the enjoyment of the film? Not at all. There's enough fast paced,
high-energy action to fill its two-hour running time, and the
skilled direction of experienced action director Martin Campbell
makes for some very exciting, white-knuckle sequences.

Columbia TriStar continues their winning streak of quality DVD's
with their release of Vertical Limit.
You'll find nothing to complain about with the picture and audio
quality. It's one of Columbia's finest recent efforts, and presents
a picture that is very close to the theatrical image. There are no
transfer-related defects, like digital artifacting or edge
enhancement. Color saturation, black level and shadow detailing are
all properly and flawlessly executed. Even the tricky digital
effects shots come across very naturally, without any defects to
hamper the quality of the image.

The same praise can be awarded to the Dolby Digital 5.1 track on
this disc. It's a big, loud and aggressive sound mix, that closely
mirrors the effect of the theatrical experience. Bass level is
full-throttle and thunderous when it needs to be, and the entire
sound field benefits from some well-placed directional effects. All
this movement in the sound field risks overpowering the dialogue,
but that never becomes an issue. Music, effects and dialogue are all
aptly mixed to create an admirable 5.1 experience. You'll also find
a couple of 2.0 mixes on the disc (one in French, one in English).
These sound good, but are obviously limited in their dynamic range.

Columbia also saw fit to release Vertical
Limit as a special edition. What's included on the disc
is certainly nothing to shake a finger at, but with all the great
special editions being released lately by studios like New Line and
Fox, it's hard not to expect more. The commentary track, by director
Campbell and producer Lloyd Phillips, is informative when it needs
to be and gives just enough behind-the-camera stories to be
entertaining. It does lag in pace at times, and those involved don't
really talk about the movie with all that much enthusiasm. An HBO "making-off"
special also provides little nuggets of information, but feels a bit
fluffy. What it does succeed at, is in showing how huge an
undertaking filming a movie 11,000 feet up is. If you're looking for
a true tale of a K2 expedition, you're sure to dig the National
Geographic spot. It's short in length (about 12 minutes),
but details the first successful American trip to the summit of the
mountain. The Search and Rescue Tales
is a bit misleading in its title, as it has nothing to do with
actual search and rescue tales. It's a series of 1-to 5-minute-long
"making-of" featurettes, peppered with footage from the
set. It has some good stuff in it, but would have been more
user-friendly had it all been contained within one segment. The
remaining features are standard disc filler material: theatrical
trailers (for this film, plus Charlie's
Angles, Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon and the similarly themed
Cliffhanger), and
filmographies and production notes on the packaging insert. The
packing lists a link to the website, but it's nowhere to be found on
the DVD.

I got a big kick out of Vertical Limit.
It feels a bit cliched to say it, but I actually found myself
holding my breath in a few spots. It really is one of those
edge-of-your-seat action movies. Just when you think you're in the
clear, they throw something else at you to set your heart racing
again. It's probably the best mountain climbing movie since
Cliffhanger. Okay... it's
probably the ONLY mountain climbing movie since then, but what the
hell? It's worth a look, and you're bound to find something of
interest in the DVD's special features.